Читать книгу The Akimbo Adventures - Alexander McCall Smith - Страница 14

‘I’d like to go to the village,’ Akimbo told his parents the following morning.

Akimbo’s father seemed surprised.

‘Why? There’s nothing for you to do there.’

‘There’s Mato. I haven’t seen him for a long time. I’d like to see him. Last time I was there his aunt said that I could stay with them for a few days.’

His father shrugged his shoulders, looking at Akimbo’s mother.

‘If you want to go, I suppose you can,’ she said. ‘You’ll have to walk there, though. It’ll take three hours – maybe more. And don’t be any trouble for Mato’s aunt.’

Again Akimbo felt bad. He did not like to lie to his parents, but if he told them of his plan he was sure that they would prevent him from trying it out. And if that happened, then nobody would ever stop the poachers, and the hunting of the elephants would go on and on.

As his father had warned him, the walk was not easy. And, carrying a chunk of ivory in a sack over his shoulder, Akimbo found it even more difficult than he had imagined. Every few minutes he had to stop and rest, sliding the sack off his shoulder and waiting for his tired arm muscles to recover. Then he would heave the sack up again and continue his walk, keeping away from the main path to avoid meeting anybody.

At last the village was in sight. Akimbo did not go straight in, but looked around in the bush for a hiding place. Eventually he found an old termite hole. He stuffed the sack in it and placed a few dead branches over the top. It was the perfect place.

Once in the village, he went straight to Mato’s house. Mato lived with his aunt. She was a nurse and ran the small clinic at the edge of the village. Mato was surprised to see Akimbo, but pleased, and took him in for a cup of water in the kitchen.

‘I need your help,’ said Akimbo to his friend. ‘I want to find somebody who will buy some ivory from me.’

Mato’s eyes opened wide with surprise.

‘But where did you get it?’ he stuttered. ‘Did you steal it?’

Akimbo shook his head. Then, swearing his friend to secrecy, he told him his plan. Mato thought for a while and then he gave him his opinion.

‘It won’t work,’ he said flatly. ‘You’ll just get into trouble. That’s all that will happen.’

Akimbo shook his head.

‘I’m ready to take that risk.’

So Mato, rather reluctantly, told Akimbo about a man in the village whom everyone thought was dishonest.

‘If I had something stolen which I wanted to sell,’ he said, ‘I’d go to him. He’s called Matimba, and I can show you where he lives. But I’m not going into his house. You’ll have to go in on your own.’

Matimba was not there the first time that Akimbo went to the house. When he called an hour later, though, he was told to wait at the back door. After ten minutes or so the door opened and a stout man with a beard looked out.

‘Yes,’ he said, his voice curt and suspicious.

‘I would like to speak to you,’ Akimbo said politely.

‘Then speak,’ snapped Matimba.

Akimbo looked over his shoulder.

‘I have something to sell. I thought you might like it.’

Matimba laughed. ‘You sell something to me?’

Akimbo ignored the laughter.

‘Yes. Here it is.’

When he saw the ivory tusk sticking out of the top of Akimbo’s sack, Matimba stopped laughing.

‘Come inside. And bring that with you.’

Inside the house, Akimbo was told to sit on a chair while Matimba examined the tusk. He looked at it under the light, sniffed it, and rubbed at it with his forefinger. Then he laid it down on a table and stared at Akimbo.

‘Where did you get this?’ he asked.

‘I found it,’ said Akimbo. ‘I found a whole lot of tusks. And some rhino horns.’

At the mention of rhino horns, Matimba narrowed his eyes. These horns were much in demand among smugglers, and could fetch very high prices on the coast. If this boy has really got some, Matimba thought, I could get them off him for next to nothing.

‘Where did you find them?’

‘In a hiding place near a river. I think they must have been hidden there by a poacher who got caught and couldn’t come back for them.’

Matimba nodded. This sort of thing did happen, and now this innocent boy had stumbled across a fortune. He looked at the tusk again. He would give him some money on the spot and promise him more if he took him to the rest.

‘You did well to come to me. I can buy these things from you.’

Akimbo drew in his breath. Now was the time for him to make his demand.

‘You can have them. I don’t want money for them.’

Matimba was astonished. He looked again at the boy and wondered whether there was something wrong with him.

‘All I want is to become an elephant hunter. If you let me go off with some poachers – to learn how they do it – I’ll show you where I have hidden the tusks and horns.’

Matimba was silent. He stared at Akimbo for some time, wondering whether to trust him. Then his greed got the better of his caution. He granted Akimbo’s wish. After all, boys thought poaching was exciting. Well, let him learn.

‘You may go with my men,’ he said.

Akimbo felt a great surge of excitement. Matimba had said ‘my men’. He had found the head of a gang of poachers. His plan had worked – so far. The next stage was the really dangerous part.